Systems and methods to facilitate user engagement with units of work assigned within a collaboration environment

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for facilitating user engagement with units of work assigned within a collaboration environment are presented herein. Implementations may: manage environment state information maintaining a collaboration environment, the environment state information the work unit records including values of an approval state parameter; effectuate presentation of a user interface of the collaboration environment, the user interface displaying individual work unit pages for individual units of work that include a set of user interface elements available for selection by the users, individual user interface elements in the set corresponding to different ones of the values of the approval state parameter; obtain user input information conveying user input characterizing the selection of the individual user interface elements; update the work unit records based on the user input information; and/or other perform other operations.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods to facilitate userengagement with units of work assigned within a collaborationenvironment.

BACKGROUND

Collaboration environments, sometimes referred to as integratedcollaboration environments, may enable users to assign projects, tasks,or other assignments to assignees (e.g., other users) to complete. Acollaboration environment may comprise an environment in which a virtualteam of users does its work. A collaboration environment may enableusers to work in a more organized and efficient manner. A collaborationenvironment may integrate features and/or functionality such asweb-based conferencing and collaboration, desktop videoconferencing,and/or instant message into a single easy-to-use, intuitive interface.

SUMMARY

One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a system configured tofacilitate user engagement with units of work assigned within acollaboration environment. Upon completion of a unit of work, a statusof the unit of work may be set as “complete” by a user. However,satisfaction of the completion of the unit of work may not becharacterized with merely setting the status of the unit of work as“complete” or “incomplete”. In some implementations, the user mayspecify an approval state of the unit of work by marking the unit ofwork as one or more of approved, revise, rejected, pending approval,and/or other states. In some implementations, “revise” may beaccompanied by and/or may refer to a request to make changes, e.g.,“changes requested,” “request changes,” and/or other instructions. Insome implementations, upon the unit of work being marked as approved,the status of the unit of work may be set as “complete”. In someimplementations, upon the unit of work being marked with revise, one ormore new units of work may be generated. The one or more new units ofwork may be based on necessary revisions as indicated by the user. Theone or more new units of work may be assigned to an assignor of the unitof work to address the revisions. In some implementations, upon the unitof work being marked as rejected, the status of a preexisting unit ofwork may be reset from “complete” to “incomplete”. These and/or otherapproval states may promote clarity and/or organization within reviewcycles as well as progress recordation for users and/or units of work.

One or more implementations of a system to facilitate user engagementwith units of work assigned within a collaboration environment mayinclude one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readableinstructions. Executing the machine-readable instructions may cause theone or more hardware processors to facilitate user engagement with unitsof work. The machine-readable instructions may include computer programcomponents. The computer program components may include one or more ofan environment state component, a user interface component, a work unitcomponent, and/or other components.

The environment state component may be configured to manage environmentstate information maintaining a collaboration environment and/or otherinformation. The collaboration environment may be configured tofacilitate interaction by users with the collaboration environment. Theenvironment state information may include work unit records describingunits of work assigned to the users within the collaborationenvironment. The work unit records may include values of an approvalstate parameter and/or other values of other parameters. The approvalstate parameter may characterize approval of the units of work by theusers assigned to the units of work. The values of the approval stateparameter may include one or more of an approve value, a revise value, areject value, a pending approval value, and/or other values. By way ofnon-limiting illustration, the work unit records may include a firstwork unit record for a first unit of work and/or other work unitrecords.

The user interface component may be configured to effectuatepresentation of a user interface of the collaboration environment. Theuser interface may display individual work unit pages for individualunits of work. Individual work unit pages may include a set of userinterface elements available for selection by the users. Individual userinterface elements in the set may correspond to different ones of thevalues of the approval state parameter.

The work unit component may be configured to obtain user inputinformation conveying user input characterizing the selection of theindividual user interface elements in the individual work unit pages.The selection of an individual user interface element in an individualwork unit page of an individual unit of work may cause a correspondingvalue of the approval state parameter to be specified for the individualunit of work.

The work unit component may be configured to update the work unitrecords based on the user input information and/or other information. Insome implementations, responsive to obtaining first user inputcharacterizing the selection of a first user interface element on afirst work unit page of the first unit of work, the work unit componentmay be configured to update the first work unit record by specifying theapprove value for the approval state parameter of the first unit ofwork.

In some implementations, responsive to obtaining second user inputcharacterizing the selection of a second user interface element on thefirst work unit page of the first unit of work, the work unit componentmay be configured to update the first work unit record by specifying therevise value for the approval state parameter of the first unit of work.

In some implementations, responsive to obtaining third user inputcharacterizing the selection of a third user interface element on thefirst work unit page of the first unit of work, the work unit componentmay be configured to update the first work unit record by specifying thereject value for the approval state parameter of the first unit of work.

As used herein, any association (or relation, or reflection, orindication, or correspondency) involving servers, processors, clientcomputing platforms, and/or another entity or object that interacts withany part of the system and/or plays a part in the operation of thesystem, may be a one-to-one association, a one-to-many association, amany-to-one association, and/or a many-to-many association or N-to-Massociation (note that N and M may be different numbers greater than 1).

As used herein, the term “manage” (and derivatives thereof) may includeactive and/or passive direction, recommendation, suggestion, approval,rejection to users within a collaboration environment and/or anycombination thereof. As used herein, the term “effectuate” (andderivatives thereof) may include active and/or passive causation of anyeffect. As used herein, the term “obtain” (and derivatives thereof) mayinclude active and/or passive retrieval, determination, derivation,transfer, upload, download, submission, and/or exchange of information,and/or any combination thereof. As used herein, the term “update” (andderivatives thereof) may include adding, removing, changing units ofwork value to an individual work unit page and/or any combinationthereof.

These and other features, and characteristics of the present technology,as well as the methods of operation and functions of the relatedelements of structure and the combination of parts and economies ofmanufacture, will become more apparent upon consideration of thefollowing description and the appended claims with reference to theaccompanying drawings, all of which form a part of this specification,wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts in thevarious figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that thedrawings are for the purpose of illustration and description only andare not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention. As usedin the specification and in the claims, the singular form of “a”, “an”,and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictatesotherwise.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a system configured to facilitate user engagementwith units of work assigned within a collaboration environment, inaccordance with one or more implementations.

FIG. 2 illustrates a method to facilitate user engagement with units ofwork assigned within a collaboration environment, in accordance with oneor more implementations.

FIG. 3 illustrates a user interface, in accordance with one or moreimplementations.

FIG. 4 illustrates a user interface, in accordance with one or moreimplementations.

FIG. 5 illustrates user interfaces, in accordance with one or moreimplementations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 configured to facilitate user engagementwith units of work within a collaboration environment, in accordancewith one or more implementations. In some implementations, the user mayspecify an approval state of a unit of work by marking the unit of workas one or more of approved, revise, rejected, pending approval, and/orother states. Upon the unit of work being specified as approved, astatus of the unit of work may be set as “complete”. Upon the unit ofwork being specified as revise, one or more new units of work may begenerated. The one or more new units of work may be based on necessaryrevisions as indicated by the user. The one or more new units of workmay be assigned to an assignor of the unit of work to address therevisions. Upon the unit of work being specified as rejected, the statusof a preexisting unit of work may be reset from “complete” to“incomplete”. The unit of work may be subordinate to the preexistingunit of work. These and/or other approval states may promote clarityand/or organization within review cycles as well as progress recordationfor users and/or units of work.

In some implementations, system 100 may include one or more of one ormore servers 102, one or more client computing platforms 104, externalresources 126, and/or other components. Server(s) 102 may be configuredto communicate with one or more client computing platforms 104 accordingto a client/server architecture and/or other architectures. Clientcomputing platform(s) 104 may be configured to communicate with otherclient computing platforms via server(s) 102 and/or according to apeer-to-peer architecture and/or other architectures. Users may accesssystem 100 via client computing platform(s) 104.

Server(s) 102 may include one or more of non-transitory electronicstorage 128, one or more processors 130 configured by machine-readableinstructions 106, and/or other components. Machine-readable instructions106 may include one or more instruction components. The instructioncomponents may include computer program components. Executing themachine-readable instructions 106 may cause server(s) 102 to facilitateuser engagement with units of work within a collaboration environment.The computer program components may include one or more of anenvironment state component 108, a user interface component 110, a workunit component 112, and/or other instruction components.

Environment state component 108 may be configured to manage environmentstate information and/or other information used in maintaining acollaboration environment. The collaboration environment may beconfigured to facilitate interaction by users within the collaborationenvironment. The environment state information may include one or moreof user information, work information, and/or other information used todefine, support, and/or otherwise maintain a collaboration environment.

The user information may include values of user parameters. The valuesof the user parameters may be organized in user records corresponding tousers interacting with and/or viewing the collaboration environment. Thevalues of the user parameters may include information describing theusers, their actions within the collaboration environment, theirsettings, and/or other user information; and/or metadata associated withthe users, their actions within the environment, their settings, and/orother user information. Individual ones of the users may be associatedwith individual ones of the user records. A user record may definevalues of the user parameters associated with a given user.

The values of the user parameters may, by way of non-limiting example,specify one or more of: a user name, a group parameter, a user account,a user role information, a user department, descriptive user content, ato-email, a from-email, a photo, an organization, a workspace, one ormore projects (which may include project parameters defined by one ormore work unit records), one or more items of work (which may includeone or more unit of work parameters defined by one or more unit of workrecords), one or more user comments, one or more teams the user belongsto, one or more of the user display settings (e.g., colors, size,project order, task order, other unit of work order, etc.), one or moreauthorized applications, one or more interaction parameters (e.g.,indicating a user is working on/worked on a given unit of work, a givenuser viewed a given work unit of work, a given user selected a givenunit of work, a timeframe a given user last interacted with and/orworked on a given unit of work, a time period that a given unit of workhas been idle, and/or other interaction parameters), a presenceparameter (e.g., indicating presence and/or interaction level at anenvironment level, unit of work level, project level, task level,application level, etc.), one or more notification settings, one or moreprogress parameters, status information for one or more work units theuser is associated with (units of work assigned to the user, assigned toother users by the user, completed by the user, past-due date, and/orother information), one or more performance metrics of a given user(e.g., how many units of work the user has completed, how quickly theuser completed the units of work, how quickly the user completes certaintypes of work units, the efficiency of the user, bandwidth of the user,activity level of the user, etc.), application access information (e.g.,username/password for one or more third-party applications), one or morefavorites and/or priorities, schedule information, role information,and/or other information.

User role information may specify individual roles of the individualusers in the individual units of work. A role may represent a positionof an individual user. The position may be specified based on adescription of one or more of job title, level, stage, and/or otherdescriptions of position. The role may be specified with respect to acompany as a whole, a particular unit of work, a set of units of work,and/or other considerations. By way of non-limiting illustration, a rolemay include one or more of chief executive officer (or other officer),owner, manager, supervisor, accountant, associate, employee, entrylevel, midlevel, senior, administrator, director, foreman, engineer,product developer, human resource officer, artist, art director, and/orother description.

The work information may include values of one or more work unitparameters. The values of the work unit parameters may be organized inwork unit records corresponding to units of work (also referred to aswork units) managed, created, and/or assigned within the collaborationenvironment. A given work unit may have one or more assignees and/orteam members working on the given work unit. Work units may include oneor more to-do items, action items, objectives, and/or other units ofwork one or more users should accomplish and/or plan on accomplishing.Units of work may be created by a given user for the given user and/orcreated by the given user and assigned to one or more other users.Individual units of work may include one or more of an individualproject, an individual task, an individual sub-task, and/or other unitsof work assigned to and/or associated with one or more users. Individualunits of work may include one or more digital content items. Anindividual unit of work may include an individual digital content itemby virtue of the individual digital content item (and/or a copy orinstance thereof) being attached and/or appended thereto. An individualunit of work may include an individual digital content item by virtue ofthe individual digital content item (and/or a copy or instance thereof)being accessible via the individual unit of work (e.g., via link, URL, apointer, and/or other techniques to provide access). A digital contentitem may include one or more of an image, a video, an audio file, a PDF,a word document, and/or other digital content items.

Individual sets of work unit records may be defined by a recordhierarchy. A record hierarchy may convey individual positions of workunit records (and their corresponding units of work) in the recordhierarchy. By way of non-limiting illustration, a position may specifyone or more of a work unit record being superior to another work unitrecord, a work unit record being subordinate to another work unitrecord, and/or other information. As a result, individual work unitrecords in the individual sets of work unit records may be subordinateto other individual work unit records in the individual sets of workunit records. For example, a work unit record may define a unit of workcomprising a task, and a subordinate work unit record may define unit ofwork comprising a sub-task to the task. A record hierarchy may define arelationship between work unit records. A work unit record may have somerestrictions placed on it by virtue of having a subordinate work unitrecord. By way of non-limiting illustration, a work unit record may berestricted from access by one or more users unless and/or until asubordinate work unit record is completed and/or started.

Individual work unit records may include values of an approval stateparameter and/or other parameters. The approval state parameter maycharacterize approval of the units of work by the users assigned to theunits of work. The values of the approval state parameter may includeone or more of an approve value, a revise value, a reject value, apending approval value, and/or other approval state values. In someimplementations, the work unit records may include a first work unitrecord describing a first unit of work assigned to a first user and/orother work unit records. The first unit of work may include a firstdigital content item and/or other information.

Individual work units records may include hierarchical informationdefining a record hierarchy of the individual work unit records. Thehierarchical information of a work unit record may include one or moreof information identifying other work unit records associated in arecord hierarchy the work unit record belongs to, a specification of theposition of the work unit record in the hierarchy, restrictions and/orother relationships placed on the work unit record by virtue of itsposition, and/or other information.

In some implementations, as a consequence of the record hierarchies, theindividual units of work described in the individual work unit recordsthat are subordinate to the other individual work unit records may besubordinate to the individual units of work in the other individual workunit records.

In some implementations, the one or more work unit parameters mayinclude one or more of a work assignment parameter, a work managementparameter, work creation parameter, and/or other parameters. The valuesof the work assignment parameter may describe units of work assigned tothe individual users. The values of the work management parameter maydescribe units of work managed by the individual users. The values ofthe work creation parameter may describe units of work created by theindividual users.

In some implementations, the units of work may be described based on oneor more of a unit of work name, a unit of work description, one or moreunit of work dates (e.g., a start date, a due date, a completion date,and/or dates), one or more members associated with a unit of work (e.g.,an owner, one or more other project/task members, member accessinformation, and/or other unit of work members and/or memberinformation), a status parameter (e.g., an update, a hardcoded statusupdate, a completed/incomplete/mark complete, a measured status, aprogress indication, quantity of sub-work units remaining for a givenunit of work, completed work units in a given project, and/or otherstatus parameter), one or more user comment parameters (e.g., permissionfor who may make comments such as an assignee, an assignor, a recipient,one or more followers, and/or one or more other interested parties;content of the comments; one or more times; presence or absence of thefunctionality of up-votes; one or more hard-coded responses; and/orother parameters), one or more interaction parameters (e.g., indicatinga given unit of work is being worked on/was worked on, given work unitof work was viewed, a given unit of work was selected, how long thegiven unit of work has been idle, a last interaction parameterindicating when and what user last interacted with the given unit ofwork, users that interacted with the given unit of work, and/or otherinteraction parameters indicating sources of the interactions, contextof the interactions, content of the interactions and/or time for theinteractions), one or more digital content item attachments,notification settings, privacy, an associated URL, one or moreinteraction parameters (e.g., sources of the interactions, context ofthe interactions, content of the interactions, time for theinteractions, and/or other interaction parameters), updates, ordering ofunits of work within a given unit of work (e.g., tasks within a project,subtasks within a task, etc.), state of a workspace for a given unit ofwork (e.g., application state parameters, application status,application interactions, user information, and/or other parametersrelated to the state of the workspace for a unit of work), hierarchicalinformation, one or more custom fields (e.g., priority, cost, stage,and/or other custom fields), and/or other information.

The values of the work assignment parameter describing units of workassigned to the individual users may be determined based on one or moreinteractions by one or more users with a collaboration environment. Insome implementations, one or more users may create and/or assign one ormore unit of work to themselves and/or another user. In someimplementations, a user may be assigned a unit of work and the user mayeffectuate a reassignment of the unit of work from the user or one ormore other users.

In some implementations, values of the work assignment parameter mayindicate that a status parameter of a unit of work has changed from“incomplete” to “marked complete” and/or “complete”. In someimplementations, a status of complete for a unit of work may beassociated with the passing of an end date associated with the unit ofwork. In some implementations, a status of “marked complete” may beassociated with a user providing input via the collaboration environmentat the point in time the user completes the unit of work (which may bebefore or after an end date).

User interface component 110 may be configured to effectuatepresentation of a user interface of the collaboration environment. Insome implementations, user interface component 110 may be configured toeffectuate presentation of individual user interfaces on individualclient computing platforms of one or more client computing platforms104. The user interface component 110 may be configured to effectuatepresentation of a user interface displaying the units of work. In someimplementations, the user interface may display representations of theunits of work in a timeline based on individual start dates andindividual end dates of the individual units of work. In someimplementations, the user interface may display representations of theunits of work in an ordered list based on individual start dates of theindividual units of work. In some implementations, representations ofthe units of work may include icons, graphics, and/or other elements.Selection of a representation of the units of work may facilitategenerating views displaying the units of work.

The user interface may display individual work unit pages for individualunits of work. The individual work unit pages may include a set of userinterface elements available for selection by the users. The individualuser interface elements in the set may correspond to different ones ofthe values of the approval state parameter.

The user interface elements may be configured to facilitate userinteraction with the user interface, user entry, and/or selection. Byway of non-limiting illustration, the user interface elements mayinclude one or more of text input fields, drop down menus, check boxes,display windows, virtual buttons, and/or other user interface elements.

In some implementations, the user interface elements may include one ormore visual representations. The visual representations may includeicons, graphics, colors, text, and/or other elements. By way ofnon-limiting example, the user interface element corresponding to theapprove value may be an outlined box and with a check mark icon and/orother graphics. The user interface element corresponding to the revisevalue may be an outlined box with an arrow icon and/or other graphics.The user interface element corresponding to the reject value may be aoutlined box with an “X” icon and/or other icons. The individual userinterface elements may be colored. By way of non-limiting illustration,the user interface element corresponding to the approve value may begreen; the user interface element corresponding to the revise value maybe yellow; and/or the user interface element corresponding to the rejectvalue may be red.

In some implementations, the visual representations for the individualuser interface elements that correspond to the different ones of thevalues of the approval state parameters may be set and/or modified by anadministrative user and/or other users. In some implementations, thevisual representations for the individual user interface elements thatcorrespond to the different ones of the values of the approval stateparameters may be fixed and unmodifiable.

Work unit component 112 may be configured to obtain user inputinformation and/or other information. The user input information mayconvey user input characterizing the selection of the individual userinterface elements in the individual work unit pages. The selection ofan individual user interface element in an individual work unit page ofan individual unit of work may cause a corresponding value of theapproval state parameter to be specified for the individual unit ofwork.

In some implementations, the user input may further comprise user entryof input content and/or other information in the individual units ofwork. The input content may include, for example, the text of thecomment input by a user. By way of non-limiting example, user input bythe first user on, or relating to, the first digital content item mayinclude first input content.

The work unit component 112 may be configured to update the work unitrecords based on the user input information and/or other information. Inparticular, work unit component 112 may be configured to update the workunit records based on the selection of the individual user interfaceelements in an individual work unit page of the individual unit of work.

In some implementations, a first work unit page of the first unit ofwork may include one or more of a first user interface element, a seconduser interface element, a third user interface element, and/or otheruser interface elements. The first user interface element may correspondto the approve value; the second user interface element may correspondto the revise value; and/or the third user interface element maycorrespond to the reject value.

In some implementations, work unit component 112 may be configured toupdate the first work unit record by specifying the approve value forthe approval state parameter of the first unit of work. Such update maybe responsive to obtaining first user input characterizing the selectionof the first user interface element on the first work unit page of thefirst unit of work. In some implementations, updating the first workunit record to specify the approve value for the approval stateparameter may cause a value of a status parameter of the first work unitrecord to be specified with a value of complete.

In some implementations, specifying the approve value for the approvalstate parameter of a unit of work may cause one or more automatedactions to be carried out. Specifying the approve value for the approvalstate parameter of a unit of work may act as a trigger event to carryout one or more automated actions. In some implementations, anindividual automated action may include effectuating one or more ofcreation of, change in, and/or specification of, one or more values ofone or more of the parameters. In some implementations, the creation of,change in, and/or specification of values of parameters may beaccomplished by accessing a corresponding record (e.g., user record,work unit record, and/or other records). In some implementations,creation of, change in, and/or specification of an individual value maybe reflected in views of the collaboration environment accessed byusers. In some implementations, an individual automated action mayinclude effectuating an action outside of the collaboration environment(e.g., in an external resource).

In some implementations, individual sets of automated actions andassociated individual trigger events may be stored in individualautomation records. An automation record may define one or more ofindividual actions, individual trigger events, and/or other information.Individual actions may be defined by a target component, an actioncomponent, and/or other information. The target component of anautomation record may include a parameter (or parameters) to which anaction is to be carried out on. The action component of an automationrecord may define what change is to be made on the parameter (orparameters) defined by the target component. Individual trigger eventsmay be defined by a source component, an event component, and/or otherinformation. The source component of an automation record may includethe approval state parameter of a unit of work. The event component mayinclude the approval state parameter being defined by the approvalstate. Automation records may be specified by individual users.Automation records may reflect common repeated steps a user may takeresponsive to an approval of a unit of work. This automation may improveuser efficiency and workflow since manual intervention may not berequired following the approval of a unit of work.

In some implementations, user interface component 110 may be configuredto update the user interface based on the update of the work unitrecords and/or other information. In some implementations, userinterface component 110 may be configured to update the first work unitpage to include indicia showing that the first unit of work has beenapproved. Such update may be responsive to the first work unit recordspecifying with the approve value for the approval state parameter ofthe first unit of work. Indicia showing that values of the approvalstate of individual units of work may include one or more of the visualrepresentations. For example, the indicia showing that the first unit ofwork has been approved may include the first user interface element thatcorresponds to the approve value having a visual change in itsappearance, e.g., change to a solid color. For example, the indiciashowing that the first unit of work has been approved may include agreen check icon and/or text specifying the user who approval the unitof work.

In some implementations, the work unit component 112 may be configuredto update the first work unit record by specifying the revise value forthe approval state parameter of the first unit of work. Such update maybe responsive to obtaining second user input characterizing theselection of the second user interface element on the first work unitpage of the first unit of work. In some implementations, user interfacecomponent 110 may be configured to update the first work unit page toinclude indicia showing that the first unit of work has been revised.Such update may be responsive to the first work unit record specifyingthe revise value for the approval state parameter of the first unit ofwork. For example, the indicia showing that the first unit of work hasbeen revised may include the second user interface element thatcorresponds to the revise value having a visual change. For example, theindicia showing that the first unit of work has been revised may includea yellow arrow icon and/or text specifying the user who revised the unitof work.

In some implementations, the work unit component 112 may be configuredto update the first work unit record by specifying the reject value forthe approval state parameter of the first unit of work. Such update maybe responsive to obtaining third user input characterizing the selectionof the third user interface element on the first work unit page of thefirst unit of work. In some implementations, user interface component110 may be configured to update the first work unit page to includeindicia showing that the first unit of work has been rejected. Suchupdate may be responsive to the first work unit record specifying thereject value for the approval state parameter of the first unit of work.For example, the indicia showing that the first unit of work has beenrejected may include the second user interface element that correspondsto the revise value to have a visual change. For example, the indiciashowing that the first unit of work has been reject may include a redarrow icon and/or text specifying the user who rejected the unit ofwork.

In some implementations, work unit component 112 may be configured togenerate one or more work unit records based on the user inputinformation and/or other information. Further, work unit component 112may be configured to automatically assign individual ones of theindividual units of work included in the one or more work unit recordsgenerated based on the user input information to individual users whoare assignors of the individual units of work which are under approval.

In some implementations, updating the first work unit record to specifythe revise value for the approval state parameter for the first unit ofwork may cause a second work unit record for a second unit of work to begenerated. Work unit component 112 may be configured to generate thesecond work unit record for the second unit of work. In someimplementations, the second work unit record may be subordinate to thefirst work unit record within a record hierarchy. In someimplementations, the second work unit record may be at the position inthe record hierarchy as the first work unit record. The second unit ofwork may describe revisions to be completed with respect to the firstunit of work. The revisions may be input by the assignee of the firstunit of work. The revisions may be input prior to or subsequently to theselection of the second user input element (corresponding to the revisevalue) on the first work unit page of the first unit of work. Therevisions may be included in the unit of work description for the secondunit of work and/or in the content of the comments. In someimplementations, the second work unit record may automatically include adue date value. The due date value may be an amount of time prespecifiedby the administrative user and/or other users added to the due dateand/or completion date of the first unit of work, and/or a current date.In some implementations, the second work unit record may notautomatically include a due date value (i.e., the due date valuerequires user input).

In some implementations, responsive to obtaining the second user inputcharacterizing the selection of the second user interface element on thefirst work unit page of the first unit of work, user interface component110 may be configured to effectuation presentation of a set ofrecommended revision instructions on the first work unit page. By way ofnon-limiting example, the recommended revisions instructions included inthe set may include one or more of an instruction to revise a title, aninstruction to revise content of a digital content item, an instructionto revise a deadline or timeframe for the first unit of work, aninstruction to revise users on a team related to the first unit of work,and/or other instructions. The set of recommended revision instructionspresented may be modified and/or created by an administrative userand/or other users to adapt to use of the collaborative environment.

Work unit component 112 may be configured to obtain further user inputincluding selection of one or more recommended revision instructionsfrom the set of recommended revision instructions. The revisions to becompleted as described in the second unit of work may include the one ormore recommended revision instructions.

The second unit of work may be assigned to an assignor of the first unitof work. In some implementations, work unit component 112 may beconfigured to automatically assign individual ones of the individualunits of work included in the one or more work unit records generatedbased on the user input information to individual users of a particularrole. In some implementations, assignment may be dictated (e.g., changedfrom the automatic assignment, initially specified, etc.) by an assigneeto other users as needed. By way of non-limiting illustration, the firstuser may assign the second unit of work to one or more other users asdesired.

In some implementations, updating a work unit record to specify therevise value for the approval state parameter for a unit of work maycause the unit of work to be reassigned back to the assignor of the unitof work (alternatively and/or in addition to a new unit of work beinggenerated and assigned to the original assignor). The revise value maybe displayed within the work unit page for the unit of work byspecifying, among other things, “changes requested.” The assignee mayprovide specific instructions in a comment section. The assignor may benotified that the unit of work was not approved, but instead thatchanges were requested. The assignor may then make the changes. Uponcompletion, the assignor may specify a value of the approval state as“pending approval” and/or other values. The value of pending approvalmay refer to a request for approval following a request forrevisions/changes. The work unit record may be updated to specify thepending approval value for the approval state parameter. Specifying thepending approval value may cause the unit of work to be again reassignedback to the original assignee for “final” approval. The assignee maythen select a value of the approval state (e.g., again requestingchanges, marking as approval, rejecting, and/or other states).

In some implementations, the work unit component 112 may be configuredto update the first work unit record by specifying the reject value forthe approval state parameter of the first unit of work. Such update maybe responsive to obtaining third user input characterizing the selectionof the third user interface element on the first work unit page of thefirst unit of work. In some implementations, updating the first workunit record to specify the reject value for the approval state parametermay cause a value of the status parameter of a preexisting second workunit record of a (preexisting) second unit of work to be specified witha value of incomplete. The first work unit record may be subordinate tothe preexisting second work unit record within the record hierarchy. Thevalue of the status parameter of the preexisting second work unit recordmay have been previously specified with a value of complete. In someimplementations, the preexisting second work unit record mayautomatically include an updated due date value. The updated due datevalue may be an amount of time prespecified by the administrative userand/or other users added to the due date and/or completion date of thefirst unit of work, and/or a current date. In some implementations, thepreexisting second work unit record may not automatically include anupdated due date value, rather the due date value requires user input orremains the same (i.e., the past due date).

In some implementations, user interface component 110 may be configuredto update the first work unit page to include indicia showing the firstunit of work has been rejected. Such update may be responsive to thefirst work unit record specifying the reject value for the approvalstate parameter of the first unit of work. For example, the indiciashowing that the first unit of work has been rejected may include thethird user interface element that corresponds to the reject value to bea solid red box instead of the red-outlined box. For example, theindicia showing that the first unit of work has been rejected mayinclude a red “X” icon and text specifying the user who rejected theunit of work.

In some implementations, the user input information may convey userinput characterizing the deselection of the individual user interfaceelements in the individual work unit pages. The deselection of anindividual user interface element in an individual work unit page of anindividual unit of work may cause the corresponding value of theapproval state parameter to be unspecified for the individual unit ofwork and/or set to a default value (e.g., null value). For example, thefirst user may select the first user interface element and the approvalstate parameter of the first unit of work may specify the approve valueand the first work unit page may include, for example, a green checkicon. Subsequently, the first user may deselect the first user interfaceelement and the value for the approval state parameter of the first unitof work may be unspecified. Accordingly, the first work unit page may nolonger include the green check icon.

In some implementations, environment state information may be updated asusers continue to interact with the collaboration environment over time.The environment state component 108 may store and/or archive theenvironment state information periodically and/or based on user requestto archive. In some implementations, the environment state component 108may store historical environment state information specifying historicaluser information, historical work information, and/or other information.

FIG. 3 illustrates a user interface 300, in accordance with one or moreimplementations. The user interface 300 may display a first unit ofwork. The user interface 300 may display different values of one or morework unit parameters of the first unit of work, and/or otherinformation. By way of non-limiting illustration, a user interfaceelement 302 may display a title of the first unit of work (e.g., TaskX). A user interface element 304 may display an assignee of the firstunit of work (e.g., User A). A user interface element 305 may display anassignor of the first unit of work (e.g., User B). A user interfaceelement 306 may display a due date of the first unit of work. Userinterface elements 308 a-308 c may display approval states a user mayselect for the first unit of work. User interface element 308 a mayrepresent approval of the first unit of work. User interface element 308b may represent revise the first unit of work. User interface element308 c may represent rejection of the first unit of work. Upon theassignee, User A, selecting user interface element 308 a, a userinterface element 310 that shows the first unit of work has beencompleted may be displayed.

FIG. 4 illustrates user interface 400, in accordance with one or moreimplementations. The user interface 400 may display a second unit ofwork. The user interface 400 may display different values of one or morework unit parameters of the second unit of work, and/or otherinformation. Simultaneously referring to FIG. 3 , responsive to userselection of user interface element 308 b to request revisions of thefirst unit of work (e.g., Task X), a second work unit record for thesecond unit of work may be generated and user interface 400 may bedisplayed as illustrated in user interface 400 of FIG. 4 . By way ofnon-limiting illustration, user interface 400 may display a userinterface element 402 that may display a title of the second unit ofwork (e.g., Task Y). A user interface element 406 may display a due dateof the second unit of work. A user interface element 404 may display anassignee of the second unit of work. The second unit of work may beassigned to the assignor (i.e., User B) of the first unit of work, asdisplayed by user interface element 305 in FIG. 3 responsive to theselection of user interface element 308 b. A user interface element 405may display an assignor of the second unit of work (e.g., User A). Thesecond unit of work may be assigned by the assignee of the first unit ofwork, as displayed by user interface element 304 in FIG. 3 , responsiveto the selection of user interface element 308 b (i.e., responsive toUser A requesting revisions). A user interface element 408 may display adescription for the second unit of work. Revisions input by User A priorto or subsequent to selection of user interface element 308 b may bedisplayed in user interface element 408.

FIG. 5 illustrates a user interface 500 and user interface 300, inaccordance with one or more implementations. User interface 300 may bethe same as or similar to user interface 300 in FIG. 3 . User interface300 may display the first unit of work. User interface 500 may display apreexisting third unit of work. The third unit of work may displaydifferent values of one or more work unit parameters of the third unitof work, and/or other information. By way of non-limiting illustration,user interface 500 may display a user interface element 502 that maydisplay a title of the third unit of work (e.g., Task W). User interfaceelement 504 a and 504 b may display a status (e.g., “Mark Complete”,“Complete”) of the third unit of work. Similar to FIG. 3 , the firstunit of work may display different values of one or more work unitparameters of the first unit of work, and/or other information. By wayof non-limiting illustration, a user interface element 302 may displaythe title of the first unit of work (e.g., Task X). A user interfaceelement 303 may display the title of the third unit of work (i.e., TaskW) of which the first unit of work is subordinate to. Responsive to userselection of user interface element 308 c to reject the first unit ofwork Task X, user interface element 504 a of the third unit of work,“Completed”, may be updated to display user interface element 504 b ofthe third unit of work, “Mark Complete”. In other words, a status of thethird work unit record may be specified as incomplete and user interface500 may display accordingly.

It is noted that FIGS. 3-5 are for illustrative purposes only and arenot to be considered limiting. Instead, it is to be understood that userinterfaces may be configured in other ways and/or including otherelements in accordance with one or more implementations of the system100 presented herein.

Referring back to FIG. 1 , in some implementations, server(s) 102,client computing platform(s) 104, and/or external resources 126 may beoperatively linked via one or more electronic communication links. Forexample, such electronic communication links may be established, atleast in part, via a network 116 such as the Internet and/or othernetworks. It will be appreciated that this is not intended to belimiting, and that the scope of this disclosure includes implementationsin which server(s) 102, client computing platform(s) 104, and/orexternal resources 126 may be operatively linked via some othercommunication media.

A given client computing platform may include one or more processorsconfigured to execute computer program components. The computer programcomponents may be configured to enable an expert or user associated withthe given client computing platform to interface with system 100 and/orexternal resources 126, and/or provide other functionality attributedherein to client computing platform(s) 104. By way of non-limitingexample, the given client computing platform 104 may include one or moreof a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a handheld computer, a tabletcomputing platform, a NetBook, a Smartphone, a gaming console, and/orother computing platforms.

External resources 126 may include sources of information outside ofsystem 100, external entities participating with system 100, and/orother resources. In some implementations, some or all of thefunctionality attributed herein to external resources 126 may beprovided by resources included in system 100.

Server(s) 102 may include electronic storage 128, one or more processors130, and/or other components. Server(s) 102 may include communicationlines, or ports to enable the exchange of information with a network 116and/or other computing platforms. Illustration of server(s) 102 in FIG.1 is not intended to be limiting. Server(s) 102 may include a pluralityof hardware, software, and/or firmware components operating together toprovide the functionality attributed herein to server(s) 102. Forexample, server(s) 102 may be implemented by a cloud of computingplatforms operating together as server(s) 102.

Electronic storage 128 may comprise non-transitory storage media thatelectronically stores information. The electronic storage media ofelectronic storage 128 may include one or both of system storage that isprovided integrally (i.e., substantially non-removable) with server(s)102 and/or removable storage that is removably connectable to server(s)102 via, for example, a port (e.g., a USB port, a firewire port, etc.)or a drive (e.g., a disk drive, etc.). Electronic storage 128 mayinclude one or more of optically readable storage media (e.g., opticaldisks, etc.), magnetically readable storage media (e.g., magnetic tape,magnetic hard drive, floppy drive, etc.), electrical charge-basedstorage media (e.g., EEPROM, RAM, etc.), solid-state storage media(e.g., flash drive, etc.), and/or other electronically readable storagemedia. Electronic storage 128 may include one or more virtual storageresources (e.g., cloud storage, a virtual private network, and/or othervirtual storage resources). Electronic storage 128 may store softwarealgorithms, information determined by processor(s) 130, informationreceived from server(s) 102, information received from client computingplatform(s) 104, and/or other information that enables server(s) 102 tofunction as described herein.

Processor(s) 130 may be configured to provide information processingcapabilities in server(s) 102. As such, processor(s) 130 may include oneor more of a digital processor, an analog processor, a digital circuitdesigned to process information, an analog circuit designed to processinformation, a state machine, and/or other mechanisms for electronicallyprocessing information. Although processor(s) 130 is shown in FIG. 1 asa single entity, this is for illustrative purposes only. In someimplementations, processor(s) 130 may include a plurality of processingunits. These processing units may be physically located within the samedevice, or processor(s) 130 may represent processing functionality of aplurality of devices operating in coordination. Processor(s) 130 may beconfigured to execute components 108, 110, and/or 112, and/or othercomponents. Processor(s) 130 may be configured to execute components108, 110, and/or 112, and/or other components by software; hardware;firmware; some combination of software, hardware, and/or firmware;and/or other mechanisms for configuring processing capabilities onprocessor(s) 130. As used herein, the term “component” may refer to anycomponent or set of components that perform the functionality attributedto the component. This may include one or more physical processorsduring execution of processor readable instructions, the processorreadable instructions, circuitry, hardware, storage media, or any othercomponents.

It should be appreciated that although components 108, 110, and/or 112are illustrated in FIG. 1 as being implemented within a singleprocessing unit, in implementations in which processor(s) 130 includesmultiple processing units, one or more of components 108, 110, and/or112 may be implemented remotely from the other components. Thedescription of the functionality provided by the different components108, 110, and/or 112 described below is for illustrative purposes, andis not intended to be limiting, as any of components 108, 110, and/or112 may provide more or less functionality than is described. Forexample, one or more of components 108, 110, and/or 112 may beeliminated, and some or all of its functionality may be provided byother ones of components 108, 110, and/or 112. As another example,processor(s) 130 may be configured to execute one or more additionalcomponents that may perform some or all of the functionality attributedbelow to one of components 108, 110, and/or 112.

FIG. 2 illustrates a method 200 to facilitate user engagement with unitsof work assigned within a collaboration environment, in accordance withone or more implementations. The operations of method 200 presentedbelow are intended to be illustrative. In some implementations, method200 may be accomplished with one or more additional operations notdescribed, and/or without one or more of the operations discussed.Additionally, the order in which the operations of method 200 areillustrated in FIG. 2 and described below is not intended to belimiting.

In some implementations, method 200 may be implemented in one or moreprocessing devices (e.g., a digital processor, an analog processor, adigital circuit designed to process information, an analog circuitdesigned to process information, a state machine, and/or othermechanisms for electronically processing information). The one or moreprocessing devices may include one or more devices executing some or allof the operations of method 200 in response to instructions storedelectronically on an electronic storage medium. The one or moreprocessing devices may include one or more devices configured throughhardware, firmware, and/or software to be specifically designed forexecution of one or more of the operations of method 200.

An operation 202 may manage environment state information maintaining acollaboration environment. The collaboration environment may beconfigured to facilitate interaction by users with the collaborationenvironment. The environment state information may include work unitrecords describing units of work assigned to individual users within thecollaboration environment. The work unit records may include values ofan approval state parameter. The values of the approval state parameterincluding an approve value, a revise value, and a reject value, the workunit records including a first work unit record for a first unit ofwork. Operation 202 may be performed by one or more hardware processorsconfigured by machine-readable instructions including a component thatis the same as or similar to environment state component 108, inaccordance with one or more implementations.

An operation 204 may effectuate presentation of a user interface (of thecollaboration environment) displaying individual work unit pages thatmay include a set of user interface elements available for selection bythe users. Individual user interface elements in the set may correspondto different ones of the values of the approval state parameter.Operation 204 may be performed by one or more hardware processorsconfigured by machine-readable instructions including a component thatis the same as or similar to user interface component 110, in accordancewith one or more implementations.

An operation 206 may obtain user input information conveying user inputcharacterizing the selection of the individual user interface elementsin the individual work unit pages. Operation 206 may be performed by oneor more hardware processors configured by machine-readable instructionsincluding a component that is the same as or similar to work unitcomponent 112, in accordance with one or more implementations.

An operation 208 may update the work unit records based on the userinput information. Operation 208 may be performed by one or morehardware processors configured by machine-readable instructionsincluding a component that is the same as or similar to work unitcomponent 112, in accordance with one or more implementations.

Although the present technology has been described in detail for thepurpose of illustration based on what is currently considered to be themost practical and preferred implementations, it is to be understoodthat such detail is solely for that purpose and that the technology isnot limited to the disclosed implementations, but, on the contrary, isintended to cover modifications and equivalent arrangements that arewithin the spirit and scope of the appended claims. For example, it isto be understood that the present technology contemplates that, to theextent possible, one or more features of any implementation can becombined with one or more features of any other implementation.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system configured to facilitate user engagementwith work unit records of a collaboration environment, the systemcomprising: one or more physical processors configured bymachine-readable instructions to: manage, at a server, electronicallystored environment state information maintaining a collaborationenvironment, the collaboration environment being configured tofacilitate interaction by users with the collaboration environment, afirst user interacting with the collaboration environment via a firstremotely located client computing platform communicating with the serverover an Internet connection, the environment state information includinga first work unit record for a first unit of work involving review of afirst digital content item, the first work unit record including a valueof an approval state parameter, the approval state parametercharacterizing approval of the first unit of work by the first user,values of the approval state parameter including an approve value, arevise value conveying a request to generate changes to the firstdigital content item, and a reject value; establish the Internetconnection between the first remotely located client computing platformand the server; effectuate communication of information from the serverto the first remotely located client computing platform so that thefirst remotely located client computing platform presents a userinterface of the collaboration environment, the user interfacedisplaying a first work unit page for the first unit of work, the firstwork unit page including a set of user interface elements available forselection, individual user interface elements in the set of userinterface elements corresponding to different ones of the values of theapproval state parameter; obtain, at the server, user input informationconveying user input into the first remotely located client computingplatform characterizing the selection of the individual user interfaceelements in the first work unit page, the selection of an individualuser interface element causing a corresponding value of the approvalstate parameter to be specified for the first work unit record; andupdate, at the server, the first work unit record based on the userinput information, such that: responsive to the user input informationconveying a first selection of a first user interface element on thefirst work unit page, update the first work unit record by specifyingthe approve value as the value for the approval state parameter of thefirst work unit record; responsive to the user input informationconveying a second selection of a second user interface element on thefirst work unit page, update the first work unit record by specifyingthe revise value as the value for the approval state parameter of thefirst work unit record, the revise value conveying a first request togenerate one or more changes to the first digital content item; andresponsive to the user input information conveying a third selection ofa third user interface element on the first work unit page, update thefirst work unit record by specifying the reject value as the value forthe approval state parameter of the first work unit record.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein updating the first work unit record tospecify the approve value as the value for the approval state parametercauses a status value of a status parameter of the first work unitrecord to be specified with the status value of complete.
 3. The systemof claim 1, wherein updating the first work unit record to specify therevise value as the value for the approval state parameter for the firstwork unit record causes: a second work unit record for a second unit ofwork to be generated, the second unit of work being assigned to anassignor of the first unit of work, and describing the one or morechanges.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein a description of the one ormore changes are input by an assignee of the first unit of work.
 5. Thesystem of claim 3, wherein the one or more physical processors arefurther configured by the machine-readable instructions to: responsiveto obtaining the user input information conveying the second selectionof the second user interface element, effectuate presentation of a setof recommended revision instructions on the first work unit page; obtainfurther user input including selection of one or more recommendedrevision instructions from the set of recommended revision instructions;and wherein the one or more changes as described in the second work unitrecord include the one or more recommended revision instructions.
 6. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein updating the first work unit record tospecify the reject value as the value for the approval state parametercauses: a status value of a status parameter of a preexisting secondwork unit record for a second unit of work to be specified with thestatus value of incomplete, wherein the first work unit record issubordinate to the second work unit record within a record hierarchy,and wherein the status value of the status parameter of the second workunit record was previously specified with the status value of complete.7. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more physical processorsare further configured by the machine-readable instructions to: updatethe user interface based on the update of the first work unit record,such that: responsive to the first work unit record specifying theapprove value as the value for the approval state parameter of the firstunit of work, update the first work unit page to include indicia showingthat the first unit of work has been approved; responsive to the firstwork unit record specifying the revise value as the value for theapproval state parameter of the first unit of work, update the firstwork unit page to include indicia showing that the first unit of workrequires revision; and responsive to the first work unit recordspecifying the reject value as the value for the approval stateparameter of the first unit of work, update the first work unit page toinclude indicia showing the first unit of work has been rejected.
 8. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the first work unit page includes an instanceof the first digital content item.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein thefirst digital content item comprises one or more of an image, a video,an audio file, a PDF, or a word document.
 10. The system of claim 1,wherein the first work unit record is subordinate to a second work unitrecord.
 11. A method to facilitate user engagement with work unitrecords of a collaboration environment, the method comprising: managing,at a server, electronically stored environment state informationmaintaining a collaboration environment, the collaboration environmentbeing configured to facilitate interaction by users with thecollaboration environment, a first user interacting with thecollaboration environment via a first remotely located client computingplatform communicating with the server over an Internet connection, theenvironment state information including a first work unit record for afirst unit of work involving review of a first digital content item, thefirst work unit record including a value of an approval state parameter,the approval state parameter characterizing approval of the first unitof work by the first user, values of the approval state parameterincluding an approve value, a revise value conveying a request togenerate changes to the first digital content item, and a reject value;establishing the Internet connection between the first remotely locatedclient computing platform and the server; effectuating communication ofinformation from the server to the first remotely located clientcomputing platform so that the first remotely located client computingplatform presents a user interface of the collaboration environment, theuser interface displaying a first work unit page for the first unit ofwork, the first work unit page including a set of user interfaceelements available for selection, individual user interface elements inthe set of user interface elements corresponding to different ones ofthe values of the approval state parameter; obtaining, at the server,user input information conveying user input into the first remotelylocated client computing platform characterizing the selection of theindividual user interface elements in the first work unit page, theselection of an individual user interface element causing acorresponding value of the approval state parameter to be specified forthe first work unit record; and updating, at the server, the first workunit record based on the user input information, including: responsiveto the user input information conveying a first selection of a firstuser interface element on the first work unit page, updating the firstwork unit record by specifying the approve value as the value for theapproval state parameter of the first work unit record; responsive tothe user input information conveying a second selection of a second userinterface element on the first work unit page, updating the first workunit record by specifying the revise value as the value for the approvalstate parameter of the first work unit record, the revise valueconveying a first request to generate one or more changes to the firstdigital content item; and responsive to the user input informationconveying a third selection of a third user interface element on thefirst work unit page, updating the first work unit record by specifyingthe reject value as the value for the approval state parameter of thefirst work unit record.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the updatingthe first work unit record to specify the approve value as the value forthe approval state parameter causes a status value of a status parameterof the first work unit record to be specified with the status value ofcomplete.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the updating the firstwork unit record to specify the revise value as the value for theapproval state parameter for the first work unit record causes themethod to further perform: generating a second work unit record for asecond unit of work, the second unit of work being assigned to anassignor of the first unit of work, and describing the one or morechanges.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein a description of the one ormore changes are input by an assignee of the first unit of work.
 15. Themethod of claim 13, further comprising: responsive to obtaining the userinput information conveying the second selection of the second userinterface element, effectuating presentation of a set of recommendedrevision instructions on the first work unit page; obtaining furtheruser input including selection of one or more recommended revisioninstructions from the set of recommended revision instructions; andwherein the one or more changes as described in the second work unitrecord include the one or more recommended revision instructions. 16.The method of claim 11, wherein the updating the first work unit recordto specify the reject value as the value for the approval stateparameter causes the method to further perform: specifying a statusvalue of a status parameter of a preexisting second work unit record fora second unit of work with the status value of incomplete, wherein thefirst work unit record is subordinate to the second work unit recordwithin a record hierarchy, and wherein the status value of the statusparameter of the second work unit record was previously specified withthe status value of complete.
 17. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising: updating the user interface based on the update of the firstwork unit record, such that: responsive to the first work unit recordspecifying the approve value as the value for the approval stateparameter of the first unit of work, updating the first work unit pageto include indicia showing that the first unit of work has beenapproved; responsive to the first work unit record specifying the revisevalue as the value for the approval state parameter of the first unit ofwork, updating the first work unit page to include indicia showing thatthe first unit of work requires revision; and responsive to the firstwork unit record specifying the reject value as the value for theapproval state parameter of the first unit of work, updating the firstwork unit page to include indicia showing the first unit of work hasbeen rejected.
 18. The method of claim 11, wherein the first work unitpage includes an instance of the first digital content item.
 19. Themethod of claim 18, wherein the first digital content item comprises oneor more of an image, a video, an audio file, a PDF, or a word document.20. The method of claim 11, wherein the first work unit record issubordinate to a second work unit record.